Both Sides Now
by Lady Merope Riddle
Summary: Horrified by what she learned about Dumbledore's dark past, Hermione got the idea that all will be changed if Dumbledore could be changed before the dreadful occurrences which brought a tragic end to his family occurred. Armed with her knowledge of the future and a stolen time turner, Hermione went back almost a century to set things right. Will she succeed, or will fate intervene?


Author's Notes:

Dear readers,

This is a new story that I was planning to write. Please read and review and tell me how you liked it, and whether it is a good idea to continue with this story. I think that this odd ship has not been tried out before, so I decided to give it a go. However, it is not absurd as you thought it might be. I have drafted a plan for this story, and I daresay that it will be as interesting as my other stories. It will adopt the same concepts as my other stories; the only difference is the characters and shippings.

I have run out of ideas for my other stories as I have not updated them for quite some time. I need to get the flow of them first before I can continue writing. This is a small distraction to help me clear my thoughts and get back into writing.

So, without further ado, here is the prologue of my new story. Enjoy!

Cheers

Lady Merope Riddle

Disclaimer: the rights of Harry Potter still remain with the respective author, the great J.K. Rowling. I do not own anything here, except the plot of this story and a few characters which are my own creation.

Note: this story is cannon-compliant. However, it does not take into account the second half of Deathly Hallows.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Time is a curious thing." Professor Albus Dumbledore

….

PROLOGUE

Hermione inhaled the cool night air greedily, as her feet hit solid ground. For a moment, she allowed herself to relax a little. She was clasping a large hourglass in her right hand. It was fastened onto a golden chain which was around her neck. She could feel it still vibrating slightly in her grip.

"Did it work?" she wondered aloud. The hourglass continued to vibrate slightly as she held onto it, as though her dear life depended on it.

Then, without warning, she felt a searing pain as the hourglass exploded and shattered into many tiny shards. Shards. She could feel shards of glass cutting into her skin, and whimpered a little as blood started to ooze out of the large cut on her palms. This was nothing; she had experienced pain far worse than this.

Blinking back tears caused by the pain, she whipped out her wand and flicked it casually. Immediately, her bloodied hand was healed. She gave her wand another casual flick, and what remained of the broken glass vanished.

Only then did she start to pay attention to her surroundings. She was back at the edge of the Forest of Dean, where she had apparated. However, she knew that she was in a different time, as she had deliberately planned it.

A flick of her wand made her smile as she confirmed her bearings, date and time. She had arrived at the place which she planned to arrive at. There was only one more test to see whether she had succeeded. And this test will be the ultimate determinant of her success.

She allowed herself to calm down before closing her eyes, concentrating on the place she wished to go to and turned on the spot. There was a tiny "pop" and Hermione was gone.

….

Hermione apparated into a street in Hogsmeade Village. She inhaled the fresh night air for a few minutes, savouring its coolness and freshness. Then, she pulled from within the depths of her travelling cloak an invisibility cloak – Harry's invisibility cloak, to be precise, and threw it over herself. She would not risked been seen at this point of time, when she still had no idea whether her plan had worked or not.

When she had gathered her bearings, she started to walk up the street, glancing left and right for any familiar signs as she walked. Her heart stopped when her glance fell on the selhoute of two figures: one tall and thin, the other of average height, walking quickly up the street. She silently casted a silencing charm at her shoes and quickened her pace to catch up with the two figures.

A few minutes later, she was close enough to hear their conversation. From this distance, she could the tall figure leaning on the one with average height for support. Her heart sank. It had not worked out as she had planned. But where had she gone wrong, she wondered.

However, she was jolted out from her thoughts when the tall figure suddenly stopped and doubled over.

The other figure stopped as well, plainly concerned about his companion.

"Professor? Are you all right?"

The tall figure was now clutching his heart and moaning softly.

"Severus," he rasped. "I need Severus."

"You mean Madam Pomfrey?" the other asked, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"No, Harry, I need Severus. My heart . . ."

"You will be all right, professor," the other assured the tall figure. "Can you stand up?"

"I . . ."

But the tall figure's words were drowned by a deafening scream as the nearest door opened a few feet away from them. Hermione heard pattering footsteps as someone started to run towards them. At the same time, she saw something had lit up the darkened sky. It was not a star, but something more terrible than that.

"I failed," she mouthed silently, tears starting to seep out of her eyes. "It is the Dark Mark, but . . . wait, this is not right, no, no, no!"

She blinked and looked up at the sky. Far ahead, a green symbol blazed. But it was not the familiar skull and snake symbol which she was acquainted to seeing, but a different symbol. She froze her mouth wide open, horror-struck.

This was all her fault. She dared one last glance at the symbol: it looked distinctly like an eye, but she knew better of its meaning. It was shaped like a triangle, with a circle enclosed inside it. It was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.

A million thoughts raced through Hermione's mind as she gazed up into the sky. Where was the flaw, she wondered.

"Gellard, oh my God, whatever happened to you?"

Hermione snapped out of her reverie and focused on the situation at hand. A middle-aged woman was crouching beside the two figures now, concern written all over her face.

"It is the Hallows, Gellard. He is here, or his followers. I saw it from my bedroom window. The Hallows, I mean!" the woman was hysterical, as she jabbed a trembling finger into the night sky, pointing at the symbol far ahead.

"Rosmerta, I need help," croaked the tall figure. "Have you got brooms? I am too weak to fly, and one can't apparate into Hogwarts grounds."

"I think I have a couple in my back room. Wait here!" Rosmerta dashed away quickly.

"Harry, listen to me. I need Severus when we get back to school. And whatever happens, you must do as I say."

"But Professor Grindelwald . . ."

"Harry, this is not the time to argue. He will be here any moment. I daresay that this will be the end of Hogwarts. I know him better than anyone else. We actually spend some years together, enough to know each other's potential and strength. However, it is rather unfortunate that I do not have the power to destroy him. You, on the other hand is the key to everything . . ."

"Professor, listen. We'll do this together, all right? We had succeeded in retrieving one of Dumbledore's horcruxes. We'll destroy it together, and we will find the rest."

"Alas, Harry, I am weak. I am afraid . . . that you will have to carry on . . . without me."

"No!"

Hermione had heard enough to figure out the current situation. She was trembling from head to toe. This was all her fault. The wizarding world was in a state of mess, all because one book-smart Muggleborn thought that she could set everything right by breaking one of the most fundamental laws in the wizarding community, by invoking time travel to help her in her plan.

The time turner was already broken. She had no means of getting back where she had come from. The best way now was to move forward, but how? She would need a plan.

She turned away quietly as Rosmerta returned, carrying two tattered broomsticks in her hands. She closed her eyes, trying her best to ignore what was going on as she concentrated on the place she wished to apparate to.

The last thing she saw before she was sucked into the torturous tube of apparition was both Grindelwald and Harry – her best friend in the world – mounting the broomsticks provided by Rosmerta and taking off into the night, heading straight for Hogwarts castle.

….


End file.
